Palestinians to Seek Full U.N. Membership Next Friday

Thanks, Obama:

The Palestinians will ask the Security Council next week to accept them as a full member of the United Nations, the top Palestinian diplomat said Thursday -- a move that comes in defiance of Washington's threat to veto the statehood bid.

The remarks by Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki put an end to speculation that the Palestinians might avoid a showdown with the United States by sidestepping the Security Council and going directly to the U.N. General Assembly to seek a lesser status of a non-member observer.

The U.S. does not wield veto power in the General Assembly, and a Palestinian bid there would be expected to win majority approval.

The Palestinians will likely still end up at the General Assembly with scaled-back ambitions, however, if the U.S. exercises its veto power in the Security Council as expected.

The U.S. has been on a furious diplomatic offensive to try to keep the Palestinians from going to the U.N. in their statehood quest, saying negotiations are the only way to produce a Palestinian state.

Israel also opposes the U.N. move, which the Palestinians launched after concluding that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations -- stalled for nearly three years -- were not going to produce any breakthroughs at this time.

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